White House prepared to meet one-on-one with Iran
By Matthew Daly
Topics: From the Wires, News
WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran’s reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there’s no agreement now to meet.
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said Saturday that President Barack Obama has made clear that he will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon and will do whatever’s necessary to block that from happening. Vietor said Iran must come in line with its obligations, or else faced increased pressure.
“The onus is on the Iranians to do so, otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure,” Vietor said in a statement. He noted that efforts to get Iran back to the table with the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany — the so-called “P5+1″ — continue.
Iran has been a recurring issue in the presidential election campaign and Vietor’s statement was released shortly after The New York Times reported Saturday that the U.S. and Iran have agreed in principle for the first time to negotiations. The paper said Iran has insisted the talks wait until after the Nov. 6 election.
Vietor, however, denied that any such agreement had been reached.
“It’s not true that the United States and Iran have agreed to one-on-one talks or any meeting after the American elections,” he said. “We continue to work with the P5+1 on a diplomatic solution and have said from the outset that we that we would be prepared to meet bilaterally.”
Obama and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will meet Monday night in a debate focusing on foreign policy and Iran’s nuclear ambitions will likely be a topic. Obama has said he’ll prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He hopes sanctions alongside negotiations can get Iran to halt uranium enrichment. But the strategy, which began during President George W. Bush’s administration, hasn’t worked yet. Obama holds out the threat of military action as a last resort. Romney has accused Obama of being weak on Iran and says the U.S. needs to present a greater military threat.
Despite unprecedented global penalties, Iran’s nuclear program is advancing as it continues to defy international pressure, including four rounds of sanctions from the U.N. Security Council, to prove that its atomic intentions are peaceful.
Those sanctions, coupled with tough measures imposed by the United States and European nations are taking their toll, particularly on Iran’s economy. Iranian authorities have in recent weeks been forced to quell protests over the plummeting value of the country’s currency. The rial lost nearly 40 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar in a week in early October, but has since slightly rebounded.
U.S. officials say they are hopeful that pressure from the sanctions may be pushing Iran’s leaders toward concessions, including direct talks with the United States. But several said on Saturday that they did not believe such discussions would happen any time soon.
If one-on-one talks are to occur, they would likely follow the model that the U.S. has used in six-nation nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea, the officials said.
In those discussions, U.S. negotiators have met separately with their North Korean counterparts but only as part of the larger effort, which also involves China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. Direct U.S.-North Korean talks are preceded and followed by intense consultations with the other members of the group.
However, the direct talks with North Korea have yet to bear fruit and U.S. officials warned that talks with Iran may not yield anything either. If U.S.-Iran talks do occur, they would likely be part of the P5+1 process, which groups the Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States and is overseen by the European Union. The group has met numerous times with Iranian officials but has yet to achieve any significant progress.
In late September, the group instructed EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to reach out to Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, to organize another meeting. No date had been set for the possible resumption of talks.
Iran says its program is for peaceful energy and research purposes but Western nations fear the Islamic republic is determined to develop nuclear weapons and fundamentally reshape the balance of power in the Middle East. That would pose a grave threat to Israel.
Israel has threatened to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities if Tehran doesn’t stop uranium enrichment a process that can be a pathway to nuclear arms. Israel could decide to strike Iran’s nuclear sites on its own, and Israeli leaders say time to act is running out. They have also hinted they would like U.S. support for any such attack.
An Israeli strike on Iran with or without Washington’s involvement would likely draw retribution from Tehran including possible attacks on U.S. and Israeli interests overseas or disruptions to the transit of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which could send oil prices skyrocketing.
Obama has counseled patience as public as American public support for another Mideast conflict is low with the Iraq war over and the conflict in Afghanistan winding down.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Andrew Miga contributed to this report.
Related Stories
More Related Stories
-
Financial Times hacked by Syrian Electronic Army
-
Gitmo hunger strike reaches 100th day
-
New DSM, new debates over ADHD and autism
-
John Brennan makes surprise Israel trip over Syria concerns
-
Pentagon officials: Drone War on Terror is endless
-
Toronto mayor reportedly caught on video smoking crack
-
Google Glass chief: "You'll know" when someone is spying on you
-
California powers $550 lottery jackpot
-
North Dakota lawmaker: Blame Roe v. Wade for school shootings
-
Take the Pope Francis tour of Buenos Aires and be pontiff for a day
-
U.K. hacker sentencing highlights U.S. overreach
-
Obama leaves room for whistle-blower prosecution
-
Should Obama go Bulworth?
-
Government to share cyber-vulnerabilites info with private sector
-
Lockheed Martin yet another victim of the sequester
-
Report: 84 percent NY fast food workers report wage theft
-
Report: Millennials don't like Abercrombie & Fitch
-
Conservative group says AARP promotes radical "homosexual agenda"
-
Study: Muscle men more politically conservative
-
Private firm hoards license plate data, plans vast database
-
California police accused of erasing video of lethal beating
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
A missing poster hangs on a tree outside the Cleveland home of Amanda Berry Wednesday. Berry and two other women, Michelle Knight and Gina DeJesus, made a daring escape this week after being held captive for more than a decade.
Credit: AP/Tony Dejak -
Elvis Rafael Rodriguez and Emir Yasser Yeje offer their best impression of Eric B. & Rakim. On Thursday, New York prosecutors identified the pair as members of an international gang that robbed $45 million in a matter of hours by hacking into a database of prepaid debit cards and draining ATM machines around the world.
Credit: AP -
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie walks to a podium during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Technology Enhanced Accelerated Learning Center at Essex County Newark Tech in Newark, N.J., Tuesday. Christie made less flattering headlines this week after undergoing a secret stomach surgery to curb his weight.
Credit: AP/Julio Cortez -
Workers stand outside the Tung Hai Sweater Ltd. factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday after a fire broke out in its 11-story building. Eight people were killed in the blaze.
Credit: AP/Ismail Ferdous -
Workers rescue a woman trapped for 17 days in the rubble of a garment factory building in Saver, Bangladesh, Friday. The building's collapse was the worst industrial disaster in the country's history, killing more than 1,000 people.
Credit: AP -
Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford gives his victory speech Tuesday in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., after winning back his old congressional seat in the state's first district.
Credit: AP/Rainier Ehrhardt -
Jodi Arias reacts in Maricopa Country Superior Court Wednesday after being found guilty of first-degree murder in the gruesome killing of her one-time boyfriend, Travis Alexander. Arias has subsequently said she wants the death penalty, claiming she'd "prefer to die sooner than later."
Credit: AP/The Arizona Republic/Rob Schumacher -
Ariel Castro stands for his mug shot Thursday at the Cuyahoga County Corrections Center, where he is being held on $8 million bail. The former bus driver is accused of imprisoning three young women and beating them repeatedly over a period of 10 years.
Credit: AP/Cuyahoga County -
Charles Ramsey addresses the media Monday after helping rescue three women held captive in Cleveland for more than a decade. Ramsey's hero portraiture has been complicated by revelations of his own domestic violence record.
Credit: AP/The Plain Dealer/Scott Shaw -
Michael B. Donley, Secretary of the Air Force, testifies during a Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The military branch was rocked this week after its chief sexual assault prevention officer was charged with sexual battery.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
Recent Slide Shows
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Mobile Entertainment: 9 Amazing Drive-In Movie Theaters Still Standing
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
- Share on Twitter
- Share on Facebook
- Thumbnails
- Fullscreen
- 1 of 11
- Previous
- Next
-
Mobile Entertainment: 9 Amazing Drive-In Movie Theaters Still Standing
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Netflix's April Fools' Day categories
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
The week in 10 pics
-
Slideshow: Nerd Obama
Related Videos
Most Read
-
Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class
Scott Timberg
-
When the IRS targeted liberals
Alex Seitz-Wald
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
Andrew Leonard
-
The man behind Abercrombie & Fitch
Benoit Denizet-Lewis
-
Pat Robertson: Husbands won't cheat if the wife makes the home "wonderful"
Jillian Rayfield
-
White House trolls Republicans over Obamacare hashtag
Jillian Rayfield
-
Is Reddit censoring openly racist users?
Fidel Martinez, The Daily Dot
-
Report: Millennials don't like Abercrombie & Fitch
Katie Mcdonough
-
Cannes: The 10 hottest movies
Andrew O'Hehir
-
My "truly remarkable" cancer breakthrough
Mary Elizabeth Williams





Comments
0 Comments